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http:// --> Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Obituaries Weather Archive Hot Topics Forum Photo Gallery Past Readers Polls Revels Etcetera Backpage O-Zone Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Online Games Movie Preview October 2, 2006 Hunted by mosquitoes By Jennifer Margulis Tidings Correspondent Jennifer Margulis Archives Monday August 28th Monday September 11th Monday September 18th Monday September 25th Monday October 2nd Monday October 9th Monday October 16th Yucky bugs, Mommy. Yucky bugs!" My oldest daughter, only two at the time, came barreling inside with tears in her eyes. Swinging on the tire swing in our front yard in South Hadley, Massachusetts, she'd only been outside for a few minutes before the small black gnats, more commonly known as no-see-ums, swarmed her face, flying into her eyes and up her nose. Even though the long, cold Massachusetts winter was finally over and our spirits, like the days, had become sunnier, it was hard to enjoy being outside. First there were the stinging black flies that left angry red welts, then the no-see-ums, and finally the mosquitoes. Haloing our heads when we went walking in the cool woods, the big, lazy well-fed Massachusetts mosquitoes stung my daughter's plump legs ceaselessly. When they found her baby sister's fat cheeks and started drawing blood from them as well, I announced our hike was over. The insect problem was so bad in Massachusetts that we counted it among our reasons for moving to Oregon: We wanted to live someplace where the kids could play outside without being plagued by winged pests. Which leaves one to wonder, doesn't it, what could have possibly possessed us to spend a year in West Africa. "Cover up," the doctor advised when we went to pick up our malaria medication for our trip. "Don't go out from dusk to dawn. Sleep under a mosquito net. You know — the standard stuff." That sounded straightforward enough at the time. Good sensible advice from a good sensible doctor about how to avoid mosquito bites and reduce the threat of malaria. From his air-conditioned sparklingly clean office in Phoenix, the Mosquito Problem seemed more than Manageable. But neither the doctor nor I had any idea of the stealth, the wiliness, the obstinance, or the evasive maneuvers of the Nigerien mosquito. Being the least developed country in the world, Niger is a place of famine, drought, and a sun so intense that hot is a euphemistic way to describe it. People here are stalk thin. Cattle are thin, even goats ""who eat everything from tree bark to the brown paper a child throws on the street after finishing the food it contained — are thin. So are the mosquitoes. They're so thin they can get through the smallest tear in the mosquito net, the thinnest hole in the screen. They're also fast. They make their Massachusetts counterparts look like lumbering sloths. Stealthy hunters that they are, Nigerien mosquitoes don't linger as they suck your succulent blood. They bite so quickly that I've yet to see one, let alone catch one, in the act. After two days in Niger my 2-year-old son had 27 bites on his legs (his older sisters counted) and the doctor's sage words ("avoidance is the best prophylaxis") sounded like a joke. We sleep under nets, spray the room of the guesthouse where we're staying for the time being, plug in an anti-mosquito device every night, and even sometimes put mosquito repellent on before bed. Yet despite all these precautions, and despite the overhead fan that knocks them off course, the mosquitoes still manage to sting us. James heard a story about a cyclist who was careening downhill on a little-used trail above the Boulevard when he discovered a juvenile male mountain lion in the middle of the path. Man and beast ended up in a deadly stand-off. After circling the man five times, the lion finally gave way and the cyclist jumped on his bike and took off. But before he came back to the street, the mountain lion reappeared: he'd been following the cyclist and managed to get ahead of him. Malarial mosquitoes give you the feeling of being stalked too: they're deadly and quiet but much more efficacious at hunting man. Ashland-based writer Jennifer Margulis is spending the year in Niger, West Africa (not Nigeria) with her husband and three children. Current Comments: Oh god Jennifer, the column is great. Go lizards! DIna ( [email protected] ) - Niamey - October 5th, 6:03 AM Leave a Comment: Advertisement: Advertisement: Paid Advertising Inkjet Printers Student Loans Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Advertisement: Copyright © 2006 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.